IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


l^|2B     12.5 
Ui  1^    |2.2 

2.0 


Itf  Ui 


11.25  i  U 


i.8 


1.6 


/> 


^. 


V 


/A 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductlons 


Institut  Canadian  d«  microreproductlons  historiques 


1980 


Technico!  Notes  /  Notes  techniques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Physical 
features  of  this  copy  which  may  alter  any  of  the 
images  in  the  reproduction  are  checked  below. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meiileur  axemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Certains 
d6fauts  susceptibles  de  nuire  A  la  qualitd  de  la 
reproduction  sont  notds  ci-dessous. 


Q 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couvertures  de  couleur 


D 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 


n 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachet^es  ou  piqudes 


Tight  binding  (may  cause  shadows  or 
distortion  along  interior  margin)/ 
Reliure  serr^  (peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou 
de  la  distortion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int6rieure) 


D 

D 


n 


Coloured  plates/ 
Planches  en  couleur 


Show  through/ 
Transparence 


Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 


D 


Additional  comments/ 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires 


Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  bibliographiques 


D 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 


D 
D 


Pagination  incorrect/ 
Erreurs  de  pagination 


Pages  missing/ 
Des  pages  manquent 


D 


Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


n 


Maps  missing/ 

Des  cartes  gdographiques  manquent 


D 


Plates  missing/ 

Des  planches  manquent 


D 


Additional  comments/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires 


The  images  appearing  hero  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  dtd  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet6  de  I'exemplaiee  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fllmage. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche  shall 
contain  the  symbol  —►(meaning  CONTINUED"), 
or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"),  whichever 
applies. 


Un  des  symboles  sulvants  apparaTtra  sur  la  der- 
nldre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le  cas: 
le  symbole  — »>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le  symbole 
V  signifie  "FIN". 


The  original  copy  was  borrowed  from,  and 
filmed  with,  the  kind  consent  of  the  following 
institution: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'exemplaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grflce  d  la 
g4n6ro8it6  de  I'itablissement  prdteur 
suivant  : 

Bibliothdque  nationale  du  Canada 


Maps  or  plates  too  large  to  be  entirely  included 
in  one  exposure  are  filmed  beginning  in  the 
upper  Iflft  hand  corner,  left  to  right  and  top  to 
bottom,  as  many  frames  as  required.  The 
following  diagrams  illustrate  the  method: 


Les  cartes  ou  les  planches  trop  grandes  pour  dtre 
reproduites  an  un  seul  cliche  sont  fiimdes  d 
partir  de  Tangle  supdrieure  gauche,  de  gauche  d 
droite  et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'im'jges  ndcessaire.  Le  diagramme  suivant 
illustre  la  mdthode  : 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

S 

4 

5 

6 

AMERICAN  FORESTRY  CONGRESS. 


ATLANTA  MEETING,  1888.  ; 


(Read  December  6th.) 


FOREST  FIRES 


-IN- 


NORTHERN  CANADA, 


.BY- 


ROBERT  BELL,  B.  A.  Sc,  M.  D.,  LL  D. 

Assistant  Director  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,  Royal  Commissioner  on 
the  Mineral  Resources  of  Ontario,  etc. 


(Beprlnted  from  the  Report  of  the  Forestry  Congress,  Atlanta  Meeting.; 


WASHINGTON  : 

Gibson  Bbob.,  PamTKBii  and  UouKBiNnBiia. 
1889. 


^gf^^mmrm 


I'OREST  FIRES  IN  NORTHERN  CANADA, 


BY 


ROBERT  BELL,  B.  A.  Sc,  M.  D.,  LL.  D., 

AsHiHtant  Director  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,  Iloyal  Commissioner  on  the 

Mineral  Resources  of  Ontario,  etc. 


Northward  of  the  decichioiis  and  mixed  forests  of  Southern  Canada  a  vast  belt  of 
conifers,  about  seven  hundred  miles  in  breadth,  stretches  for  four  thousand  miles  from 
the  eastern  coast  of  Labrador  to  the  Ilocky  Mountains,  and  continues  beyond  them  into 
Alaska.  The  northern  zone  of  this  bolt  consists  of  black  and  white  spruce  and  tama- 
rac,  but  as  we  go  south  these  become  mixed  with  Banksian  pine,  balsam  fir,  and,  in 
the  east,  with  white  cednr,  and,  finally,  with  rtd  and  white  pine.  Excepting  nt;ar  the 
verge  of  the  forest,  there  is  also  a  greater  or  less  mixture  of  aspen,  rough-barked  pop- 
lar, white  birch,  and  the  various  northern  willows,  but  in  a  general  way  this  great  belt 
may  bf  described  as  a  coniferous  forest. 

Notwithstanding  its  immense  extent,  it  may  be  said  that  fire  has  run  through  every 
part  of  it  at  one  period  or  another.  Forests  of  this  kind  are  peculiarly  liable  to  de- 
struction by  tire. 

The  trees  are  comparatively  small,  and  when  they  do  not  stand  closely  together  their 
branches  grow  nil  the  way  down  to  the  ground.  The  open  spaces,  no  matter  how 
rocky,  are  covered  by  reindeer  mosses,  which,  in  the  summer  time,  are  as  dry  and  inflam- 
mable as  tinder,  while  the  deep  carpeting  of  the  yellow  mosses  among  the  trees  them- 
selves is  ecpially  dry  and  helps  to  give  body  to  the  flames. 

The  Indian  iMiuter  or  wild  Indian  of  the  North,  knowing  how  destructive  forest  fires 
are  to  the  animals  on  which  he  depends  for  food  and  fur,  takes  all  possible  care  to  pre- 
vent them,  yet  if  one  ascends  a  high  hill  in  any  part  of  these  regions  so  as  to  obtain 
an  extensive  view  of  the  country  he  will  find  the  normal  condition  of  the  woods  to  be 
"  patchy,"  or  to  consist  of  areas  of  second  growths  of  various  ages  mixed  with  others 
of  older  timber.  The  latter  may  have  attained  to  the  full  growth  and  yet  not  repre- 
sent the  original  forest,  as  it  has  probably  sprung  up  on  ground  which  had  been 
burnt  over  at  a  time  more  remote  than  would  represent  the  life  of  any  of  the  trees 
standing  upon  it.  The  writer  has  crossed  the  entire  breadth  of  our  northern  forests 
in  many  parts  and  has  found  the  above  condition  to  prevail  everywhere. 

Knowing  the  care  which  the  Indians  have  always  exercised,  and  the  fact  that  the 
country  has  not  been  invaded  by  white  men,  the  question  arises.  What  has  caused 
these  fires  which  have  in  turn  swept  over  every  part  of  this  enormous  country,  and  not 
only  once,  but  again  and  again,  since  a  very  early  period?  My  answer  is  that  the  con- 
ditions which  we  find  in  our  Northern  woods  could  not  otherwise  have  been  attained. 
These  fires  have  had  an  effect  on  the  formation  of  the  soil,  on  the  rotation  of  crops  of 
trees,  so  necessary  to  their  healthy  condition,  and  on  the  dispersion  of  seeds. 

We  have  both  direct  proof,  and  also  the  evidence  of  the  trees  themselves,  that  forest 
tires  have  originated  without  human  agency,  and  that  they  have  been  going  on  ever 
since  the  present  species  of  trees  existed,  if,  indeed,  they  have  not  played  a  part  in 
providing  some  of  their  specific  characters.  Lightning  has  been  the  commonest  cause 
of  these  fires,  although  in  some  cases  they  may  have  originated  from  the  spontaneous 
combustion  ilue  to  the  decomposition  of  pyrites,  which  is  known  to  have  set  fire  to 
beds  of  lignite  in  the  Sashkatchewau  region. 


■^p^ 


2 

In  the  Northern  States  and  the  inhabited  parts  of  Canada  it  is  not  uncommon  for 
lightning  to  strike  barns  and  houses  and  to  set  them  on  fire  in  the  hot  months  of  sum- 
mer. This  is  the  season  when  our  Northern  forests  are  dry  and  ready  to  burn,  and  we 
should  naturally  expect  similar  accidents  to  occur  among  them  with  at  least  equal  fre- 
quency, in  proportion  to  area.  Examples  have  been  observed  in  this  region  where  the 
fire  which  has  destroyed  a  large  area  has  been  traced  back  to  a  tree  which  had  been 
struck  by  lightning.  With  an  experience  of  over  thirty  summers  spent  in  these  woods, 
I  only  once  actually  witnessed  a  case  of  this  kind.  The  lightning  on  this  occasion  was 
plainly  seen  to  strike  the  brink  of  a  wooded  bluflf  near  Red  Rock,  on  Lake  Superior, 
and  to  set  it  on  fire.  Owing  to  the  very  small  number  of  human  beings  in  these  re- 
gions, the  chances  of  these  occurreuces  being  witnessed  are  very  few  as  compared 
with  civilized  region'- ;  yet  the  Indians  tell  mo  that  thej'  frequently  happen.  On  sev- 
eral occasions  I  have  found  forest  fires  (still  of  limited  extent)  burning  in  totally  unin- 
habited regions  and  where  it  was  certain  that  no  travellers  could  have  passed  for  a  long 
time  before  these  fires  begun.  Among  examples  of  this  phenomenon  which  could  be 
named  two  were  observed  on  branches  of  the  Albany,  one  on  the  Attawapishkat,  to 
the  north  of  it,  and  one  on  the  Sturgeon  river,  near  Lake  Nipissing. 

Referring  to  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  trees  themselves  that  forest  fires  are  natu- 
ral phenomena,  I  shall  mention  the  case  of  the  Bauksian  pine.  The  cones  of  this  tree 
are  hard  and  remain  closed  as  long  as  the  tree  lives.  The  older  ones  become  weath- 
ered and  covered  with  I'chens,  often  indicating  great  age,  still  adhering  firmly  to  the 
branch.  The  tree  may  fall  down  and  rot  and  the  cones  drop  from  the  decayed  branches, 
yet  they  \sill  not  open.  But  should  the  trees  become  scorched  by  a  forest  fire,  they 
will  immediately  gape  open  and  the  healthy  seeds  will  become  scattered  far  and  wide 
by  the  wind. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  second  fire  follows  a  previous  one  after  the  lapse  of  a 
few  years.  The  first  conflagration  kills  the  trees  and  consumes  all  the  foliage  and 
twigs,  but  leaves  the  charred  trunks  and  branches  standing.  It  also  burns  oflF  the  moss 
and  much  of  the  loamy  soil.  In  time  the  branches  fall  off,  the  smaller  roots  become 
rotten,  and  a  gale  of  wind  some  day  levels  all  the  trunks  to  the  ground.  This  is  called 
a  "fire-fall,"  and  the  prostrate  trees  cover  the  ground  so  completely  that  it  is  very 
difficult  for  the  explorer  to  force  his  way  under  or  over  thom.  The  second  growth  may 
have  sprung  up  before  it  happened  or  it  may  begin  to  push  its  way  through  the  tangled 
mass  of  falle:^  trees,  rendering  it  almost  impenetrable.  Should  another  fire  not  occur, 
the  second  growth,  consisting  of  deciduous  trees,  will  attain  its  full  size,  and  the  fallen 
conifers  gradually  rot  and  disappear.  But  should  a  second  fire  occur  during  Rome  dry 
summer,  everything  is  swept  away,  including  the  upturned  dried  roots,  which  burn  even 
more  fiercely  than  the  triinks  and  branches.  The  young  second  growth  is  entirely  de- 
stroyed, and  even  the  loamy  part  of  the  soil  which  may  have  escaped  the  first  fire,  in- 
cluding all  seeds  which  may  not  yot  have  germinated.  Only  the  scanty  inorganic 
portion  remains,  heavily  charged  with  the  ashes  of  the  wood  and  the  loam.  It  is  on 
ground  thus  prepared  that  groves  of  Banksian  pine  spring  up  and  flourish.  The  seeds 
must  have  been  scattered  upon  it  after  the  second  fire,  which  had  so  completely  de- 
stroyed everything  organic.  The  ground  thus  left  remains  almost  bare  for  a  few  years, 
but  at  last  it  becomes  pretty  well  occupied  by  tho  young  pines  of  difi'erent  ages  as  if 
the  sowing  process  were  a  gradual  one.  A  few  spruces  and  other  trees  also  spring  up. 
The  reason  why  the  Banksian  pines  are  the  first  to  occupy  these  lifeless  areas  may  be 
due  to  the  comparative  lightness  of  their  seeds  and  their  extent  of  wing,  enabling  them 
to  be  carried  greater  distance  in  the  wind  or  to  their  finding  the  excess  of  potash  con- 
genial to  their  development.  They  grow  quickly,  and  in  twenty  years  have  attained  a 
height  of  thirty  feet  and  upwards,  while  some  of  their  trunks  are  as  thick  as  a  man's 
thigh.  By  this  time  their  branches  bear  a  good  crop  of  fresh-looking  cones.  I  have 
never  noticed  a  case  where  the  seeds  of  this  species  germinated  within  a  buried  cone,  as 
often  happens  with  the  spruce,  balsam,  &o.,  resulting  in  tufts  of  young  seedlings,  and 


8 

all  my  observations  go  to  show  that  fire  is  a  necessary  condition  for  the  diffusion  and 
maintenance  of  this  tree  in  the  manner  above  described.  The  same  agency  no  doubt 
aids  in  scattering  the  seeds  of  other  conifers.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  after  a  fire 
has  destroyed  a  coniferous  forest  the  growth  which  succeeds  usually  consists  principally 
of  deciduous  trees.  In  the  country  under  consideration  these  are  aspen  and  rough- 
barked  poplars,  white  birch,  pigeon  cherry,  and  willows. 

After  the  vegetable  loam  has  been  burnt  out  by  a  forest  fire,  a  long  time  must  elapse 
before  the  soil  regains  an  equal  degree  of  fertility  through  the  falling  of  leaves  and 
the  decay  of  generations  of  the  small  trees  which  follow,  supposing  that  no  new  fire 
occurs  to  destroy  again  the  accumulated  mold  and  throw  everything  back  to  the 
sterile  condition  following  the  original  double  fire.  In  the  end  an  increased  fertility 
is  probably  reached,  as  the  fires  and  the  turning  up  of  the  root-bases  of  the  trees  all 
tend  to  disintegrate  the  rocky  surface. 

The  length  of  time  which  has  elapsed  since  a  forest  fire  cannot  be  accurately  ascer- 
tained, even  if  we  could  determine  correctly  the  age  of  the  second-growth  timber,  as 
the  new  crop  does  not  always  start  up  immediately  after  the  fire.  In  cases  where  the  dates 
of  such  fires  are  known  they  are  found  to  be  several  years  further  back  than  would  be 
supposed  if  we  judged  solely  by  the  new  timber.  The  following  is  the  course  of  events 
after  a  fire  has  run  through  a  tract  of  the  full-grown  northern  coniferous  forest,  the 
fires  always  occurring  during  the  driest  part  of  the  summer :  In  the  next  spring  weeds 
and  bushes  (raspberrj',  huckleberrj',  red  elder,  &o.)  begin  to  spring  up  and  partly  oc- 
cupy the  blackened  groiind.  These  increase  for  two  or  three  years,  and  as  they  die 
out  are  gradually  replaced  by  the  poplars,  white  birch,  pigeon  cherry,  willows,  Ac, 
with  a  few  conifers.  The  willows  and  pigeon  cherry  are  short  lived.  The  poplars  at- 
tain their  full  size  and  decay  in  about  seventy  years,  and  the  white  birch  shows  signs 
of  old  age  in  less  than  one  hundred  years.  In  the  meantime  the  proportion  of  conifers 
is  constantly  increasing  from  new  individuals  springing  up,  so  that  by  the  time  the 
deciduous  trees  have  died  out  the  ground  has  become  completely  occupied  by  the  for- 
mer. The  shade  afforded  by  the  latter  causes  the  trunks  of  the  spruces,  tamaracs,  &c., 
to  grow  tall  and  straight.  It  may  be  hero  remarked  that  in  the  northern  regions  re- 
ferred to  the  tamarac  grows  everywhere  on  the  dry  ground,  along  with  the  spruces, 
poplars,  &o. 

From  a  very  extensive  personal  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the  forests  of  Northern 
Canada,  I  am  able  to  state  that  fires  have  become  more  and  more  frequent  as  we 
approach  the  present  time.  The  areas  of  the  "bruits"  of  different  dates  may  be 
said  to  be  greater  in  proportion  to  their  recentness.  Various  causes  may  be  assigned 
for  this  increasing  frequency  of  forest  fires.  The  starting  of  a  fire  by  the  Indians  of 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  or  before  the  introduction  of  modern  methods,  must 
have  been  a  somewhat  difficult  matter.  They  probably  obtained  sparks  by  striking 
together  pieces  of  iron  pyrites  as  the  Eskimos  do  at  the  present  day,  or  ignited  dry 
pounded  woody  fibre  by  means  of  wooden  friction  machines  worked  by  a  bow  and  string  ; 
and  occasionally  they  may  have  availed  themselves  of  fires  originated  by  lightning. 

The  most  primitive  Indian  families  I  have  met  with  paid  great  attention  to  keeping 
alive  the  fire  they  possessed,  and  carried  it  on  their  travels  in  old  kettles,  fed  at  frequent 
intervals  by  little  dry  sticks.  The  means  of  obtaining  fire  have  been  rendered  much 
easier  by  the  introduction  of  steel  to  be  used  with  flint  and  punk,  and  of  gunpowder  by 
which  to  ignite  rags,  «fcc.,  in  their  flint-lock  guns,  but  above  all  by  lucifer  matches. 
The  Indian,  or  for  that  matter  the  white  man,  who  is  fortunate  enough  to  possess  a 
stock  of  matches,  when  in  the  woods,  very  often  avails  himself  of  this  easy  means  to 
make  a  smudge  to  keep  off  the  mosquitoes,  to  light  bis  pipe,  dropping  the  burning 
match,  or  to  make  a  little  fire  in  order  to  boil  his  kettle  and  refresh  himself  with  a  hot 
drink.  The  number  of  tire-sotting  travellers  has  greatly  increased  in  comparatively 
recent  times.  These  include  fur  traders,  missionaries,  surveyors,  explorers,  proKpectors, 
«tc.  and,  nearer  to  civilization,  railway  builders,  common-road  makers,  lumbermen, 
bush-rangers,  and  settlors. 


A  fire  may  be  set  at  a  time  of  tbo  year  when  it  will  not  run,  bnt  it  is  astonishing  how 
long  it  will  smolder  in  the  deep  moss  and  under  logs  and  roots,  until  after  weeks,  or 
even  months,  a  dry  time  comes  and  a  favoring  galo  of  wind  will  fan  it  into  activity  and 
cause  it  to  burn  up  a  whole  country  side.  The  heaviest  rains  and  the  snows  of  a  whole 
winter  sometimes  fail  to  extinguish  or  smother  these  smoldering  fires. 

In  the  course  of  my  travels,  during  the  last  twenty  summers,  in  the  country  be- 
tween the  great  lakes  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  James'  Bay,  and  between  the  Winnipeg 
basin  and  Hudson's  Bay,  forest  fires  were  raging  in  some  part  of  the  area  traversed  each 
year,  and  indeed  they  may  be  said  to  be  almost  chronic.  In  all  directions  tracts  of 
greater  or  less  extent  are  burnt  every  year.  We  would  frequently  travel  for  long  dis- 
tauoes  on  rivers  and  chains  of  lakes  along  whose  banks  and  on  the  hil's  and  level  lands 
beyond  them,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  nothinfi;  could  be  seen  bnt  the  naked  and 
blackened  trees  left  by  the  fires  of  the  same  or  previous  season  :  or  it  might  be  the 
equally  dreary  gray  or  bleached  and  shining  trunks  remaining  from  thi;  fires  of  previ- 
ous years,  and  from  which  all  the  bark  had  dropped  off.  Even  many  miles  away  from 
one  of  these  fires  the  smoke  would  be  so  dense  as  to  completely  hide  the  shore  and 
islands  of  the  lakes  we  were  passing  through,  so  that  we  were  obliged,  as  it  were,  to 
feel  our  way  along.  On  these  occasions  it  became  impossible  to  carry  on  surveying 
operations,  which  had  to  be  either  abandoned  or  left  for  a  future  opportunity.  The 
sun  in  the  cloudless  sky  above  would  appear  only  as  a  dull  red  ball ;  burnt  leaves  and 
thin  films  of  ashes  would  settle  slowly  to  the  earth  like  large  flakes  of  snow,  and  the 
thick  smoky  air,  after  a  time,  became  unpleasant  for  respiration  and  depressing  to  the 
spirits.  This  state  of  things  might  continue  for  days,  but  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours, 
a  change  in  the  wind,  especially  if  followed  by  rain,  might  clear  the  atmosphere  and 
we  would  be  able,  for  the  first  time,  to  view  the  country  into  which  we  had  penetrated 
blindfold. 

Should  one  of  these  fires  occur  early  enough  in  the  summer,  the  newly  killed  trees 
are  quickly  attacked  by  the  boring  beetles,  but  if  lati!  in  the  season,  the  borers  opera- 
tions are  mostly  postponed  till  the  next  year.  These  insects,  finding  such  constant 
and  almost  unlimited  feeding  grounds,  swarm  in  the  "  bru^  j.i  "  of  the  great  coniferous 
forests  of  the  North,  and  here,  in  a  still  evening,  the  creaking  noise  of  the  millions 
of  th«ir  larvje  may  be  heard  for  considerable  distances  in  all  directions. 

Taking  the  whole  of  the  groat  region  last  referred  to,  it  is  probably  not  too  high  an 
estimate  to  place  the  recently  burnt  i)ortions  at  one-third  of  the  entire  area  and  the 
portions  covered  by  small  second  growths  at  another  third,  leaving  only  one-third  as 
original  forest  and  large  second  growth.  When  wc;  consider  the  highly  inflammable 
nature  of  these  forests  in  summer  and  the  constant  danger  to  which  they  are  then  ex- 
posed, it  is  a  wonder  that  even  this  proportion  has  escaped  the  flames.  It  would  be  in- 
teresting and  useful  to  show  on  a  map  the  recently  biirnt  areas  and  those  occupied  by 
the  second  growth  of  different  ages,  each  to  include,  say,  those  of  everj'  twenty  years, 
and  I  think  I  have  the  necessary  data  to  enable  me  to  do  a  large  i>art  of  this  work  with 
suflicicnt  accuracy  for  practical  purposes. 

The  modern  Indians,  even  in  these  northern  wildernesses,  have  become  every  year 
more  and  more  dependent  upon  the  white  man,  and  they  rely  less  upon  the  resources 
of  the  country  for  the  means  of  making  a  constant  living  than  did  their  forefathers, 
who  appear  to  have  been  a  more  thoughtful  and  independent  class  of  men.  In  the 
coiirse  of  the  extensive  travels  in  the  North  above  referred  to,  I  have  tiiken  every  op- 
portunity as  a  Government  officer  to  warn  the  natives  to  be  more  careful  about  allow- 
ing the  woods  to  catch  fire,  and  on  revisiting  certain  districts,  after  a  few  years,  I  have 
found  that  my  advice  had  been  followed,  and  that  forest  fires  had  not  been  nearly  so 
common  as  proviouslj'.  One  of  the  reasons  for  the  growing  frctpiency  of  forest  fires 
is  that  the  Indians  travel  more  than  they  did  formerly  (and  thus  make  more  fires  than 
when  they  were  accustomed  to  stay  longer  in  one  place),  along  with  the  fact  that  they 
are  less  careful  to  extinguish  them  when  they  are  not  on  or  near  their  own  hunting 


6 

gronnds.  It  gives  thern  some  trouble  to  pnt  out  a  are  completely  when  they  leave  a 
cftmp,  or  where  they  mny  have  stopped  to  cook  a  meal  or  gum  their  canoe  by  the  way, 
and  an  Indian  will  seldom  do  anything  except  by  necessity.  In  the  course  of  my  own 
journeys  I  often  hire  Indians  to  travel  with  me  only  for  limited  distftnces,  sending  them 
back  when  I  find  fresh  ones  to  take  their  places.  In  this  way  a  considerable  number  gen- 
erally come  under  my  influence  in  the  course  of  a  season.  I  always  take  great  pains  to  make 
these  men  extinj^uish  all  our  fires,  and  instruct  them  to  keep  uj)  the  practice,  even  in 
their  own  interest,  after  they  leave  me.  The  tires  for  cooking  breakfast  or  dinner  are 
only  allowed  to  be  kindled  on  bare  rocks  or  on  the  beach,  where  there  is  little  danger 
of  their  spreading,  and  those  which  we  are  obliged  to  make  in  the  woods  for  our  camp 
at  night  are  always  carefully  dug  out  and  drenched  with  water  and  the  moss  all  around 
saturated  before  leaving.  On  account  of  the  tire  burrowing  under  the  dry  moss,  it  is 
seldom  completely  extinguished  by  merely  throwing  a  few  kettlesful  of  water  upon  the 
brands.  It  retpiires  to  be  dug  out  with  sharp  sticks,  otherwise  it  will  go  on  smolder- 
ing until  a  favorable  opportunity  allows  it  to  burst  into  tiame.  As  an  additional  pre- 
caution, I  camp  as  often  as  possible  upon  small  islands.  In  spite  of  all  this  caro  my 
party  was  once  the  unwitting  cause  of  burning  the  woods  on  an  island  in  the  Nelson 
river.  We  had  made  our  mid-day  tire  on  a  wide  surface  of  sloping  rock  near  the  edge 
of  the  river  and  a  considerable  distance  from  the  woods,  and  afterwards  threw  the 
brands  into  the  water,  as  usual,  and  dashed  some  kettlesful  all  over  the  place  where 
the  tire  had  been.  But  on  our  return,  two  or  three  weeks  afterwards,  we  found  that  a 
spark  must  have  fallen  unnoticed  into  the  dry  moss  and  loam  of  a  long  narrow  crack 
in  the  rock,  which  ran  up  to  the  edge  of  the  woods,  for  we  saw  that  the  tire  had  fol- 
lowed this,  like  a  train  of  gunpowder,  and  that  on  reaching  the  bush  the  wind  had 
fanned  it  into  flame.  Itotten  coniferous  wood,  when  thoroughly  dry  and  broken  up, 
or  pulverized,  is  particularly  tenacious  of  fire,  aud  it  appears  to  seize  eagerly  on  every 
spark  that  fulls  amongst  it.  It  requires  to  be  thoroughly  blended  with  water  before 
one  can  be  certain  that  even  some  floating  piece  may  not  be  alight  in  its  centre. 

Let  us  try  to  picture  the  conditions  under  which  the  great  forest  fires  of  Northern 
Canada  take  place.  A  whole  country-side,  of  practically  unlimited  extent,  is  densely 
clothed  with  conifers,  mostly  spruces,  balsam,  tamarac,  and  Banksian  pine.  The  trees 
are  crowded  so  closely  together  that  their  branches  touch  or  intermingle.  The 
ground  is  deeply  covered  with  dry  moss.  After  prolonged  hot  weather  and  drouth  the 
moisture  becomes  thoroughly  dried  out  of  the  gummy  leaves  and  branches,  leaving 
the  resin  and  turpentine  ready  for  ignition.  All  the  conditions  are  now  present,  and 
only  await  a  spark  of  fire  to  give  rise  to  one  of  the  wildest  scenes  of  destruction  of 
which  the  world  is  capable.  When  the  fire  has  once  started,  the  pitchy  trees  burn  rap- 
idly ;  the  flames  rush  through  their  tops  and  high  above  them  with  a  roaring  noise. 
Should  the  atmosphere  be  calm,  the  ascending  heat  soon  causes  the  air  to  flow  in,  and 
after  a  time  the  wind  acquires  great  velocity.  An  irresistible  front  of  flarae  is  soon 
developed,  and  it  sweeps  forward,  devouring  the  forest  before  it  like  the  dry  grass  in 
a  ruuning  prairie  tire,  which  this  resembles,  but  on  a  gigantic  scale.  The  irregular 
line  of  fire  has  a  height  of  a  hundred  feet  or  more  above  the  trees,  or  two  hundred 
from  the  ground.  Great  sheets  of  flame  appear  to  disconnect  themselves  from  the 
fiery  torrent  and  l»ap  upward  and  explode,  or  dart  forward,  bridging  over  open  spaces, 
such  as  lakes  and  rivers,  aud  starting  the  fire  afresh  in  advance  of  the  main  column,  as 
if  impatient  of  the  slower  progress  which  it  is  making.  These  immense  shootmg  flames 
are  probably  due  to  the  large  quantities  of  inflammable  gas  evolved  from  the  heated 
tree  to^js  just  in  advance  of  actual  combustion,  and  they  help  to  account  for  the  almost 
incredible  speed  of  some  of  the  larger  forest  fires,  one  of  which  was  known  to  run  about 
130  miles  in  twelve  hours,  or  upwards  of  ten  miles  an  hour. 

The  wild  animals  appear  to  understand  the  significance  of  the  roaring  noise  and  the 
clouds  of  smoke  in  the  sky  in  advance  of  these  conflagrations  and  far  ahead  of  the 
actual  flames ;  the  terrified  deer,  bears,  wolvo^,  and  lynxes  may  be  seen  fleeing  for  their 


6 

lives,  followed  by  multitudes  of  the  small  fur-bearing  animals,  hares,  &c.,  all  of  which 
are,  however,  soon  overtaken  and  destroyed.  Should  the  larger  creatures  be  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  reach  a  lake  or  river  in  time,  they  may  escape  along  with  the  beavers,  musk- 
rats,  and  otters,  which  seldom  stray  far  from  the  water ;  but  it  not  infrequently  hap- 
pens that  bears  and  other  animals,  which  have  been  roasted  in  these  fires,  nre  found 
and  eaten  by  the  Indians  after  they  have  passed  over.  The  birds  flutter  up  in  confu- 
sion in  advance  of  the  wall  of  fire  and  appear  to  drop  back  into  the  flames.  Human 
beings  sometimes  perish  in  these  catastrophes,  as  happened  to  a  number  during  the 
surveys  for  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway. 

Should  the  smoke  be  carried  by  the  wind  in  such  a  direction  that  one  of  these  fires 
may  be  witnessed  at  night,  the  scene  is  one  of  the  grandest  which  it  is  possible  to 
imagine,  and  may  be  compared  to  the  burning  of  a  great  city  with  a  line  of  fire  ex- 
tending far  out  of  sight.  The  feeling  of  distant  solitude,  combined  with  the  view  of 
such  wide-spread  destruction,  gives  the  mind  an  impression  of  weird  grandeur  which 
can  scarcely  be  conceived  under  any  other  circumstances. 

In  the  more  southern  districts  of  Canada,  where  the  timber  consists  largely  of  white 
and  red  pine,  the  character  of  the  forest  fires  is  somewhat  different,  being  less  rapid 
and  not  so  complete  in  its  effects.  This  is  owing  to  the  more  open  nature  of  both  the 
timber  and  its  foliage,  the  trees  growing  further  apart  and  having  almost  naked  trunks, 
and  also  to  the  circumstance  that  they  are  generally  mixed  with  deciduous  trees,  all  of 
which  prevent  the  fire  from  acquiring  such  a  strong  body  as  in  the  coniferous  thickets 
of  the  north.  Still,  fires  are  sometimes  moderately  extensive  in  the  pine  woods  and  de- 
stroy large  quantities  of  these  more  valuable  timber  trees. 

I  do  not  propose  to  go  into  the  question  of  how  far,  if  at  all,  these  great  forest  fires  affect 
the  rain-fall  in  our  northern  districts.  Only  accurate  observations  on  the  ground  and 
extending  over  a  long  period  of  years  could  determine  the  matter  satisfactorily.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  however,  that  around  most  of  the  lakes  ancient  water-marks  may  be 
seen  on  the  rocks  high  above  any  which  have  been  reached  for  a  great  length  of  time, 
as  proved  by  the  growths  of  lichens.  But  it  is  possible  that  this  may  be  due  to  per- 
manent loweriugs  of  these  lakes  by  the  gradual  deepening  of  their  outlets. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  make  some  kind  of  calculation  of  the  quantity  of  available 
fuel  which  is  destroyed  in  a  given  area  by  a  northern  forest  fire,  apart  from  any  further 
value  which  the  coniferous  trees  of  the  north  may  have  as  timber  for  local  purposes  or 
for  export.  An  acre  of  the  old  or  original  forest,  of  the  character  already  described,  or 
of  the  full-size  second  growth,  would  produce  on  an  average  twenty  to  thirty  cords  of 
good  wood  in  addition  to  the  branches  and  roots,  as  compared  with  fifty  or  sixty  cords 
which  might  be  obtained  from  an  acre  of  heavy  hard-wood  bush.  Taking  into  account 
both  the  older  and  the  younger  second  growths  of  these  regions  the  average  might  not 
produce  more  than  at  the  rate  of  ten  to  fifteen  cords  per  acre.  Still,  at  the  low  estimate 
of  fifteen  cords  for  the  average  of  the  old  timber  and  second  growths,  each  square  mile 
(640  acres)  would  yield  9,600  cords.  If  we  now  take  a  comparatively  small  portion 
of  our  vast  northern  coniferous  forest,  say  an  area  the  size  of  Great  Britain,  or  80,000 
square  miles,  it  may  safely  be  said  to  bear  854,400,000  cords  of  good  wood.  The 
poi)uIation  of  all  Canada  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  is  about  five  millions,  the 
greater  number  of  whom  live  in  the  milder  parts ;  but  supposing  that  an  average  of 
twenty  cords  of  this  fuel,  per  family,  would  be  required  for  a  year's  consumption  and 
that  there  are  one  million  families,  we  have  here  suflicieut  fuel  for  all  domestic  purposes 
for  a  period  of  upwards  of  forty-two  years,  or  till  a  new  crop,  affording  an  equal 
quantity,  could  be  grown  ;  so  that  if  properly  protected  from  fire,  this  limited  area  is 
capable  of  supplying  a  population  of  five  millions  of  people  with  abundance  of  fuel  to 
warm  their  houses  and  cook  their  food  for  all  time.  A  much  smaller  area  must  neces- 
sarily have  served  all  the  wants  of  the  more  numerous  British  people  themselves,  both 
for  fuel  and  other  purposes,  before  they  discovered  the  use  of  mineral  coal,  as  a  large 
proportion  of  the  island  was  either  cultivuted,  or  under  forests  which  were  never  out 


down  for  fuel ;  and  again,  open  or  rocky  country,  like  much  of  Scotland  and  Wales, 
must  also  be  taken  into  account.  Our  northern  forest-belt  is  more  than  thirty  times 
as  extensive  as  Great  Britain,  and  it  is  probable  that,  at  the  rate  of  destruction  which 
has  been  going  on  in  recent  years,  more  than  a  thirtieth  part  of  it,  or  an  area  equal  to 
England,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  is  burnt  off  annually;  or,  in  other  words,  we  are  losing 
every  year  ns  much  fuel  as  would  supply  the  domestic  wants  of  the  whole  Dominion 
for  nearly  half  a  century. 

Can  anything  be  done  to  prevent  or  lessen  this  terrible  waste  ?  One  would  naturally 
suppose  that  this  question  would  be  looked  upon  as  of  the  tirst  importauce  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Canada,  as  a  similar  one  is  regarded  in  Scandinavia,  more  especdally  when  we 
consider  that  almost  the  whole  of  this  enormous  area  is  destitute  of  coal  or  lignite,  and 
that  its  greatest  industry,  if  it  is  ever  to  be  populated  at  all,  will  be  the  mining  and  re- 
duction of  metals,  in  both  of  which  operations  much  wood  is  required,  besides  what 
may  be  wanted  for  domestic  and  other  purposes.  Yet  our  people  never  appear  to  give 
the  matter  a  thought,  and  indeed  the  subject  is  seldom  even  mentioned.  LaM-s  against 
the  wilful  or  negligent  starting  of  tires  in  the  woods  have  been  placed  on  the  statute- 
books  of  the  organized  provinces,  in  which  some  kinds  of  timber  have  a  present  com- 
mercial value,  b\it  these  ordinances  have  practically  little  effect,  as  no  adequate  pro- 
vision is  made  for  their  enforcement.  Besides  the  laws  themselves,  we  retjuire  the 
necessary  machinery  to  carry  them  out.  What  is  wanted  is  a  proper  mmiber  of  paid 
officers  or  forest  guardians,  each  with  a  staff  of  men,  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  look 
after  the  timber  districtd,  whether  belonging  to  the  Crown  or  leased  as  limits  to  the 
lumbermen.  These  officers  and  their  men  should  have  power  to  arrest  or  laj'  informa- 
tion against  persons  suspected  or  known  to  have  wilfully  or  by  their  negligence  set  fire 
to  the  woods.  As  matters  now  stand,  many  guilty  persons  are  allowed  to  escape  through 
the  reluctance  or  fear  which  disinterested  or  private  individuals  may  have  in  regard  to 
informing  agaiust  them.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  a  private  citizen  will  voluntarily 
assume  the  odium,  trouble,  expense,  and  loss  of  time  necessary  to  do  what  is  as  much 
the  duty  of  every  other  member  of  the  community  for  the  general  good  of  the  country. 
The  work  would  not  be  so  unpleasant  in  the  hands  of  a  paid  government  oflBcer  clothed 
with  ample  authority.  Lumbermen  are  often  blackmailed  by  bad  characters  whom 
they  have  been  obliged  to  dismiss  from  their  service  and  whose  movements  they  can- 
not always  watch,  but  who  they  know  uild  be  very  apt  to  set  fire  to  their  limits  for 
the  sake  of  revenge.  The  forest  guardians  should  keep  an  eye  not  only  on  such  per- 
sons, but  even  on  careless  Tndiaus,  explorers,  and  bush-travellers  generally.  These 
officers,  and  also  the  head  men  of  all  the  lumbering  establishments  in  the  woods,  should 
be  empowered  to  call  out  every  man  within  reach  to  fight  forest  tires  when  they  break 
out.  Our  tish  and  game  laws  are  also,  to  a  great  extent,  a  dead  letter  from  a  similar 
want  of  executive  force,  and  it  would  probably  be  found  advantageous  also  to  utilize 
the  services  of  the  forest  guardians  in  assisting  to  carry  them  into  effect. 

In  Scandinavia,  where  the  preservation  of  the  forests  is  regarded  as  of  vital  impor- 
tance, the  laws  against  setting  them  on  fire  are  very  severe.  Any  jierson  who  may 
have  caused  a  forest  fire,  whether  by  "accident"  or  otherwise  (no  accidents  being 
recognized  in  connection  with  this  matter),  is  held  liable  for  all  he  is  worth  toward 
making  good  the  damage,  and  he  is  imprisoned  besides.  Under  these  circumstances 
forest  fires  are  very  rare.  The  climate  of  Scandinavia  in  summer  is  more  damp  than 
ours,  and  lightning  is  less  frequent,  so  that  strict  forestry  regulations  are  more 
urgently  required  with  us.  Laws  of  much  less  severity  than  those  referred  to,  if  they 
coTild  be  uniformly  enforced  in  Canada,  would  soon  have  an  appreciable  effect  in  pre- 
venting the  wholesale  destruction  of  valuable  standing  timber  which  is  going  on  to 
such  an  alarming  extent  in  this  country. 


